


Empty Chairs at Empty Tables

by FangZeronos



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: And it's kinda slightly Mozara at the end, I might do some others later, I wanted to do something, Like a Gaige focused one after the G/L/T DLC, Or finding Salvador and Kreig and Axton and doing something, Post-Borderlands 3, They did my Sirens dirty, With so little brought up about Maya and Lilith's deaths something needed to be written, but it's the best I could come up with, it's not that great
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-11
Updated: 2020-05-11
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:13:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24121897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FangZeronos/pseuds/FangZeronos
Summary: Amara studies Maya's book and has a toast to fallen friends with Moxxi.
Kudos: 6





	Empty Chairs at Empty Tables

The thrumming of the ship’s engines sent a calming shudder through the bar, the music slightly calming to the Siren as she studied. Amara bit her lip as she flipped the page in the book she’d borrowed from Ava, the one that used to hang from Maya’s hip.

“Nyriad?” the Tiger of Partali muttered, jotting the name down on a tablet for later research. She’d come to Pandora to hunt Vaults, dish out justice with her phase arms, learn about Sirens. She’d done her share of the former two, but having to watch two of her Siren sisters die without being able to stop it? That was a crime Amara knew she could never forgive herself for. She scanned the page, raising an eyebrow.

_“For every Warrior, Traveler, or Timekeeper, there is always another Vault. Perhaps they’re endless. Perhaps the Eridians had reason for locking these creatures away. Perhaps we shall never know.”_

Amara sighed, rubbing her eyes softly before marking her place in the book. She shut it and pressed her hands to her eyes, her elbows resting on the table in the corner before taking her beer and taking a sip.

“What’s wrong, sugar?” Moxxi asked as she walked up, sitting across from Amara. “Never seen you study before.”

Amara chuckled, rubbing her temples. “This was Maya’s, and…I want to learn more about us. The Sirens. This seems to be the closest way to do so.”

Moxxi smiled softly, nodding. “Well, I can’t offer much in the way of knowledge about Sirens, but if you need someone to bounce ideas off of, I’m always here, sugar,” she said.

“Thank you, Moxxi,” Amara said. “Actually...maybe you could help me. How long have you known Lilith and Maya?”

“A long, long time,” the buxom bartender said, folding her hands on the table. “Lilith and her friends took on my Underdome arena. Mordecai wanted the grand prize, a box of loot and yours truly. After that, they helped me with an ex-husband in a prison during an Atlas invasion of Pandora.”

“Atlas? Rhys tried to take over the planet?” Amara asked. “He doesn’t seem like the type.”

“He isn’t. This was before he became Atlas CEO. Like Maliwan on Promethea, Atlas invaded Pandora looking for the Vault. They were led by a Siren, Commandant Steele. She got eaten by the Destroyer…before being turned into a human Claptrap…”

Amara shuddered. “No thank you,” she said. She raised an eyebrow. “Steele was a Siren? What were her powers?”

“Nobody knows,” Moxxi said. “She only ever used them once as far as Lilith said, and that was to activate the Vault Key.” She smiled softly, straightening her hat. “Why the interest in the girls?”

“I wanted to learn more about Sirens. I never got the chance to ask either of them to talk about it. With Tannis and Ava being Sirens now, I’m the one with most experience, and I want to make sure they know what they’re getting into. And…it’s atonement.” The Siren’s hands clenched, her tattoos glowing a dim blue and green.

“For what, sugar?” Moxxi asked, reaching over and putting her hand on Amara’s, the dim glow of the tattoos seeping through her fingers.

“Standing by while Troy killed Maya and Lilith gave herself up to stop Elpis crashing into the planet,” Amara said. “The four of us stood there and did _nothing_ when Maya and Ava were in danger, and I feel horribly about it. Killing Troy to avenge Maya was fine, but it doesn’t stop the guilt.”

Moxxi nodded, biting her lip softly. “Listen, honey. Maya wouldn’t want you blaming yourself for her death. If anything, that’s on Ava’s conscious because she didn’t listen and stay on the ship. If you had tried to help, what’s to say Tyreen wouldn’t have tried to take your powers too? She’d already taken Lilith’s, and that Vault monster on Promethea. If you had tried to help, who knows what could have happened.”

“I know that, Moxxi,” Amara said, sighing. “But to know that I could do something and then do nothing? What kind of friend does that make me? How can I face myself knowing that I did nothing to help two women who were my sisters?”

“You pull yourself up by your bootstraps and say that you won’t let anyone else die if you can save them, worn out from a Vault monster fight or not,” Moxxi said. “Listen, sugar. I know I don’t have to tell you that the Borderlands ain’t a playground. Each planet you’ve gone to has been one hellhole after another. Monsters and bandits around every corner. You just got to suck it up, take the losses, make them the fire that you burn to keep pushing along.”

Amara nodded, sighing softly. “I know, and trying to teach Ava and Tannis is going to be hard,” she said.

Moxxi smiled, patting Amara’s hand. “You’ll figure it out, sugar,” she said. She got up, sauntering over to the bar, and walking around behind before grabbing a bottle and four shot glasses. Making her way back to Amara, she set the glasses down and poured the four shots.

“Four?” Amara asked.

Moxxi nodded, setting the bottle down. “One for you, one each for Lilith and Maya, and one for me. Those girls were my family as much as Ellie and Scooter, so losing them feels like losing a part of myself,” she said before taking her glass. “To fallen friends.”

“May there be empty chairs at the table in remembrance,” Amara said, picking up her own shot.

The two women clinked their glasses before throwing back the alcohol, setting the empty vessels down on the table. Amara got up, leaving the two full shots before tucking the book under her arm.

“Thank you, Moxxi. For telling me about them,” the Siren said with a sad smile.

“Any time, sugar,” Moxxi said, standing up and collecting the two empty glasses. “I’ll leave those sit for a while. Lets the girls know we’re thinkin’ about them.” She walked back around the bar, setting the glasses under the counter, putting the bottle back on the shelf before watching Amara walk out. “Sirens…a sisterhood I never understood, and one I don’t think we’re meant to.”

Amara sighed as she walked into her quarters, the smell of oil and machinery filling her nose. “Moserah,” she said with a bemused smile, setting the book down and pulling her combat boots off before she climbed in behind her girlfriend, the smaller ex-Vladof soldier pushing back against her.

“Where’ve you been, Mar?” Moze asked sleepily, threading her fingers through the Sirens, yawning softly.

“I was studying Maya’s book in Moxxi’s bar,” Amara said, nuzzling her nose against Moze’s neck, hearing the other girl laugh softly. “I was hoping to learn more about them, and Moxxi proved helpful.”

Moze nodded, laying her head against Amara’s shoulder. “Long as you don’t burn yourself out, Tiger,” she said softly, her eyes drooping closed again.

“I won’t, ursa. I promise,” Amara said, closing her eyes softly, visions of battles that would never happen with her Siren Sisters at her side filling her dreams.

_Oh my friends, my friends forgive me  
That I live and you are gone  
There's a grief that can't be spoken,  
And there's a pain goes on and on_

_Phantom faces at the window,  
Phantom shadows on the floor,  
Empty chairs at empty tables where my friends will meet no more.  
Oh my friends, my friends don't ask me  
What your sacrifice was for  
Empty chairs at empty tables  
Where my friends will sing no more._

**Author's Note:**

> My second ever Borderlands fic. I did one....4 years ago over on ff.net, "Sketches and Advice" that was my own little "Hey, let's have some fun" but this one's been sitting unfinished for almost six months until today. They did Maya dirty, and I don't think Lilith should have gone out the way she did, but you can't fix it. I'm hoping for DLC 3 and 4 to be more "We're wrapping up the loose storylines" and give us some closure with the rest of the Vault Hunters dealing with these losses later.
> 
> And yes, the title and ending is from Les Miserables, the song "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables". It seemed fitting for the end of the war with the CoV and everyone that was lost.


End file.
